Early the next morning, Pan Long got up and went out to find an elderly Argoan who had seen a great deal of the world.
He soon found someone who fit the bill: an old man who had lost nearly all his hair and teeth and trembled even as he walked. His eyes were cloudy, his hearing poor, and the body that had once been sturdy enough to count as a deadly weapon could no longer swat a mosquito.
But the old man could still talk. In fact, age had made recent events hazy to him, while the things that had happened in his youth remained exceptionally clear.
And he was almost as old as Thornbloom City itself.
The Argoans were famous for their longevity. One saying held that "an Argoan only grows old and dies when he decides he is old enough to die."
It was a baseless legend, of course, and there were plenty more like it across the land.
None of them could be trusted.
This elderly Argoan had long forgotten his own name and was respectfully called Thornbloom Elder. In his youth, he too had been a deep-sea hunter. He seemed delighted when Pan Long came to ask him about the Demons in the deep sea.
"The Demons in the deep sea are endless. Every person willing to fight them is welcome," he said. "What I know may be long out of date. Perhaps even the children by the roadside know it, or perhaps I've got it wrong. But if you're willing to listen, I'm willing to tell you."
Then he rambled on, telling many stories about deep-sea Demons.
Naturally, a few stories about wiping out Cults found their way in as well.
More than once, Pan Long heard mention of Celestial Spirits.
The old hunter